Mormon Researchers Work to Stop the Flu Virus

With our children heading back to school, it is inevitable–in spite of current vaccines– that sooner or later they will get the flu in some form or another. If you’re like me, I find it difficult to see my children suffering with the flu or any illness.

Recently, the flu virus circulated through my family, ending with my youngest son. For a week, the poor kid lay listlessly on the couch, suffering with a barking cough that made his ribs sore, a fever, and a strange rash. All I could do was encourage rest, administer round the clock Tylenol and cough syrup, and provide entertainment, such as stories and movies. After a visit to the pediatrician, the doctor reassured me that his lungs were clear, that his odd rash was due to the flu virus, and that he would be better in a few days. Fortunately for my son, she was right and he pulled through.

In speaking with my children one night, we discussed how we could never appreciate wellness if we were never sick. That brought to mind a Book of Mormon story of a prophet named Lehi who spoke with each of his sons before his death, teaching and advising them. Lehi taught his son Jacob: “For it must needs be, that there must be an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. . .” (2 Nephi 2:11)

Since the opposite of illness is wellness, I was excited to come across a video about researchers from Brigham Young University working to create a mutation-resistant drug to fight the influenza virus. Thought the video is two years old, these researchers have made even greater progress today and are closer to finding a cure.

Dr. David Busath, Professor of Physiology and Developmental Biology at BYU, said that while washing your hands is still the best defense against the flu, his research team has been working to find a drug that could stop the flu and are getting close. Dr. Busath explained that the flu virus is dangerous because it has the ability to mutate, causing different versions of the virus.

“There is always a threat for new virus strains,” said Dr. Busath. “Viruses are classified as threats based on two criteria: the first is how lethal they are and the second is how contagious they are.”

According to the Virtual Health Library, the flu virus enters our bodies through M2 protein channels. “It uses our cells’ own metabolism for itself. To position itself in the right place, its proteins separate, releasing genes that will invade the nucleus, but only when it’s in the right place, measuring itself through the pH of the endosome, the sack of the membrane it forms when entering. When the pH moves towards the inner part of the cell, its pH is reduced. It is only in this acidic pH that the influenza releases its genes, ensuring that it is close to the nucleus. Protein M2 is responsible for generating this signal by forming a pore on the membrane of the virus, allowing the H+ ions that generate the acidic environment to enter the virus.”

Dr. Busath explained that in the 1960s how two drugs– amantadine and rimantadine– were discovered to be effective at stopping the flu virus. However, this virus can mutate and drugs quickly become ineffective. That’s what happened to amantadine and rimantadine. “Today, 99.5 percent of the human flu strains in the world are immune to these drugs.”

Dr. Busath’s research team has been working to stop the progression of the virus by finding the right combination of drugs, like those used against the HIV AIDs virus.

M2 Protein serving as a channel for the H+ ions, above. Unwrapping of the virus and release of the genes, below. To stop the flu, a universal vaccine is needed to stop all mutation of the virus in the M2 Channel.

To discover the right drug or composition of drugs, BYU researchers are using new tools for solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy developed by Dr. Timothy A. Cross at the National High Magnetic Field Lab at Florida State University to examine the flu M2 protein on the atomic level.

Seeing the flu protein at this level allows scientists to experiment with drugs that will plug up the M2 channel and prevent it from reproducing. This is encouraging for researchers because once the right drug cocktail is found, it should be effective against all strains of influenza A (H1N1, H3N2, etc.), and it is hoped, against the less common influenza B and C viruses as well.

According to the Deseret News, the work on influenza M2 at BYU and Florida State University has been funded by a 10-year, multi-million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health.

“This is the most exciting research I’ve done in all my life. It’s research that has a very practical application,” said Dr. Busath. “This is a blossoming experience and, because of its practical nature, it gets people’s attention.”

Yes, Dr. Busath, it certainly does. I wonder if the many families in the scriptures ever had the flu. While there is no way of knowing, I’m sure Biblical parents hated seeing their children suffer with illness, just as we do today. I believe that if parents such as Father Abraham or Samuel’s mother, Hannah, lived in modern times, they would acknowledge a cure as more than science, but divine inspiration as God imparts His light and knowledge to mankind.